


Love Comes Slow

by Sundance201



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, One Shot Collection, Prompt Fill, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2020-12-20 23:55:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21065315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sundance201/pseuds/Sundance201
Summary: A collection of prompt fills that I've posted on tumblr, all in one spot for your reading convenience! Will slowly but surely be adding to this with some of my favorite ficlets.





	1. First Date after The Final Problem - General

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from one of my all time favorite Sherlolly songs "Let Her Go" by Passenger. 
> 
> Thanks to Miz Joely for being the roundabout impetus for this work finally going up - I've thought about compiling my prompt fills and ficlets from tumblr for a while, but just have never ACTUALLY done it. Hope you enjoy having them all in one spot!

They’re walking back to 221B and he’s curiously quiet. He’s been on his best behavior all night – better than his best, even. He’s been the most pleasant and amiable she’s ever seen him. 

It’s unnerving. 

It’s not him. And she knows it. He asked her about her childhood pets, for god’s sake. She was expecting just a normal night out with him, but instead he was pulling out her chair and not taking his eyes from her and asking all sorts of strange questions about the hamster she had when she was six and where she would travel if she could go anywhere in the world. 

They reach the familiarity of Baker Street and he pulls out his keys and opens the door for her. The building is so quiet – he’s paid for a hotel for Mrs. Hudson until the repairs are all done. He had told her that most of the flat was habitable and really they were just doing cosmetic things now, so he had moved back in, unable to take living with Mycroft a second longer. 

She thinks he just needed a bit of steady familiarity in the face of all the upheaval of his world. 

He takes her coat and then offers to make her tea and honestly, she’s starting to worry now. There’s only so long that he can keep up this charade and if she’s honest, she hates that he thinks he has to put it up for her anyway. He should know that she knows him and she doesn’t need him to pretend to be anything that he’s not. 

She sneaks up behind him in the kitchen and watches him for just a moment. He seems sad. She can’t bear it. 

Her arms wrap around his waist and she rests her forehead against his back, between his shoulder blades. He freezes for a moment, before relaxing slightly into her and placing on of his hands over both of hers, where they rest on his stomach, intertwined. “You don’t have to put on this show for me, Sherlock. To be honest with you, it’s freaking me out.”

“I wanted tonight to be perfect,” he whispers. Her arms tightened around him and he lightly squeezes her hand. “I’ve put you through so much…I can’t even begin to make up for it, but I thought that I could at least give you a perfect first date. I feel like I’ve even managed to ruin that.”

“Sherlock,” she murmurs, “It was perfect. Because it was you.” She moves away from his back and leans against the kitchen counter, facing him. “We’ll never be like everyone else – I wouldn’t want us to be. Because we’re not everybody else. We’re us. And yes, I’ll want to do normal couple things and go out to dinner and have picnics in the park and all that but…while we’re doing that I want us to be us and not some weird version of us that you think we should be.” She makes a face, her nose scrunching and her forehead wrinkling. “I don’t even know if that makes sense.” 

He grins and cups her cheek. “It makes perfect sense, Molly Hooper.” He leans forward and her palms are on his chest, gently pushing him back. 

He looks confused and hurt, until Molly starts giggling. “I don’t normally kiss on the first date, Sherlock.”

Rolling his eyes, he leans forward again, pressing against her hands that are still on his chest. “Luckily we just discussed not doing things how they’re normally done, then.” She’s smiling as he finally kisses her, the first of many to come.


	2. Greek Mythology or Wait for Me - General

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of my favorite prompt fills ever! The prompt was Greek Mythology and I chose the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, except....happier. It's also Victorian? And obviously Moriarty is Hades. There's just a lot going on.

“Your husband is here.”

Molly looked up at the Lord of the Underworld. “What?” He was known for playing games and he’d taken a certain liking to her since she’d been down here. 

“He’s come for you. His mother was a Muse…his brother is the consort of the Goddess of Wisdom.” Hades waved his hand nonchalantly. “He’s been granted certain…privileges. So he’s come down here with his violin and played his sad little song and made a plea to get you back.”

“But why?” she asked, confused. She’d known Sherlock Holmes for six months and been married to him for three of those, before her untimely death. She could count the number of warm conversations she’d had with him on one hand during that time. When she died, she wasn’t even sure if her husband would mourn or if he would be relieved. 

“He said that he’s going mad without you. He needs you. It was all really quite sweet. Even brought a tear to my eye,” Hades said, pouting slightly. He then held out his hand to Molly. She hesitated and a sly grin appeared on his face. “Unless you don’t want to go with him. You could always stay down here with me…we could have some fun, Mrs. Holmes.” 

Molly shook her head and reached up to take the god’s hand. “If my husband has traveled to the Underworld to retrieve me, it would be rude of me to send him away.”

Hades’ smile was sharp and dangerous, setting her on edge. “Shame. I’ll just have to wait for you to return to me again.” With that, he turned and started making his way through the labyrinth of tunnels that made up the Underworld. Molly followed behind, having to almost jog to keep up with him. He was hardly any taller than she was, but he seemed to glide along the stones with an ease that she didn’t possess. Probably because she was just a mere mortal. 

She wasn’t sure how long they were traveling for when suddenly, Hades stopped and turned to her with a sly grin. “I forgot to mention one thing. He can’t see you until you get back up to the surface. If he turns around and sees you, you’ll be sent back down here for good. You can’t give away your presence at all – he’s just going to have to trust that you’re following him. Can’t make a sound. Understand, darling?”

Molly shrugged. “Shouldn’t be too hard. It’s not like he paid much attention to my presence while I was alive anyway.” She slapped a hand over her mouth. Her tongue had loosened down here in the Underworld. She’d have to rein it in again if she reentered the world of the living. 

**When** she reentered the world of the living.

Hades smirked at her before holding a finger up to his lips. “Quiet as a mouse now, Mrs. Holmes. Can’t let your husband know you’re behind him. He’s just in the next room.”

Molly nodded and watched as Hades entered the room. She took a deep breath and then quickly bent down to remove her slippers, figuring that her footfalls would be quieter if she were barefoot. Then she entered.

Sherlock’s back was to her, as she had expected. But instead of the put together man that she had married, there was a near stranger before her. His hair, so often slicked back, was in its naturally curly state. She’d only been privy to the sight once, the morning after they’d consummated their marriage. They hadn’t shared a bed since then. His usually proud posture was slumped and he just seemed…defeated. His violin dangled dangerously from his hand and she feared that he would drop it – his most treasured possession and it seemed as if he couldn’t care less about it. Had her death done this to him? Or were there forces at work here that she wasn’t aware of?

Hades spoke up, now standing in front of Sherlock. “Alright Mr. Holmes. I have summoned your wife. Whether or not she follows is her choice. The rules are simple: she doesn’t let you know if she’s following you and you don’t look back to check. Do we have an agreement?”

Sherlock just nodded. Molly felt moved to reach out and touch him but knew it was against the recently restated rules. She couldn’t. She clenched her fists and stood her ground. 

Slowly, he started to move forward. Molly let him take a few steps before she started to follow him. The path seemed flat, but she knew that they were ascending. The air started to feel lighter as they kept walking. 

Suddenly Sherlock broke the silence of their journey. “Molly,” he said softly and Molly had to shove her fist in her mouth to stifle her gasp at the sound of his voice. It was just as beautiful as she remembered. “I know you can’t say anything. If you’re even following me…I don’t know why you would be, since I never gave you any reason to while we were acquainted. But I hope you are.” 

Molly bit her tongue until she could feel the sharp tang of blood fill her mouth. They continued on. 

Just a few moments later, Sherlock raised his violin to his chin and started to play the most beautiful song she’d ever heard. It started out light and playful and then grew into a lush, romantic melody. It took on a mournful tone just as Molly noticed that she could see the light of the mortal world in front of them. They had almost made it. 

The mournful melody continued and grew frenzied as they walked closer to the surface. Just as Sherlock reached the surface, the melody turned rich and romantic once more and Molly ran up the last few feet of the path, breathing a sigh of relief as she felt living grass beneath her toes and felt the sunshine on her face for the first time in….actually she didn’t know how long she had been dead for.

Sherlock bent down and laid his violin down in the meadow, sighing heavily. 

“Sherlock,” she breathed, reaching out to her husband. He stood up and spun around and Molly’s eyes widened. In addition to the curly hair, he’d clearly not shaved in days and had bags under his eyes. He looked thinner than she remembered too. “Oh my sweet husband,” she whispered, her fingers tentatively brushing against his waistcoat. 

“Molly,” he muttered, before falling to his knees. He drew her close and buried his face in her stomach. She could feel his tears wetting the material of her dress. “Oh my darling, forgive me. Forgive me,” he begged. 

She ran her fingers through his hair, gently tugging on the curls there so that he was looking up at her. But Sherlock wouldn’t comply. He held her tighter, until it was difficult to breathe. “Sherlock, please, look at me. You can now.” He shook his head, his face still pressed tightly to her stomach. 

Molly tried a different approach. “The song you played while we were walking was beautiful. I’ve never heard it before…did you compose it?”

That finally got him to look up at her. “For you, Molly. I thought of you with every note.”

Suddenly, Molly’s knees weakened and she collapsed beside her husband. “What?”

Sherlock scooted forward, his big hands covering her cheeks. His aversion to looking at her was gone now and he seemed to drink her in like a starving man. “It was for you. I’ve been composing it since you died…I haven’t played anything else.” He lurched forward and she felt him press his forehead against hers. “Oh Molly. My Molly, my wife, will you forgive me? Say you will, please,” he begged her.

“For what, Sherlock?” she asked, bewildered. 

“If I had done my duty…if I had been a good husband, I would have been with you that day. You wouldn’t have been struck by that hansom…you wouldn’t have died. I wouldn’t have lost you.”

She smiled softly at him, stroking her thumbs against his cheeks, wiping away his tears. His eyes had closed again. “Oh darling. There’s nothing to forgive…you went to the Underworld to get me back. I think that you have more than done your duty, husband.” 

His eyes opened suddenly and for a moment, Molly felt like she couldn’t breathe under their scrutiny. “I love you, Molly. I behaved abhorrently; I should have let you know every day that we were married how I had come to care for you. But it scared me and I thought it was easier to keep you at arm’s length. But when you died…I went mad. I couldn’t…” His voice broke and he shook his head, his curls bouncing wildly. “Don’t ever leave me again. Please Molly.”

She nodded and leaned forward, brushing her lips against his in a chaste kiss. She leaned back, her thumb tracing over his lips lovingly. “You love me? Truly?”

He chuckled. “More than life itself, it would seem.” He leaned forward this time, capturing her lips in a kiss that was much less chaste than the one that she had instigated.


	3. One Half of the Couple Didn't Know They Were Dating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I asked for some prompts on the old Tumblr, and the sweet and lovely Lexie suggested that I write my favorite overused trope. Had to literally and figuratively dust off my laptop, but I think it turned out ok. Hope you're all doing as well as possible and staying healthy and at home, if possible!

“Ah, candles, Molly? Something special about tonight?” Sherlock asked, glancing at the table setting as he hung up his coat on the coat rack near Molly’s front door. 

She chuckled at him and grinned, turning towards her oven and bending slightly to take the lasagna out of the oven. “Well it’s been six months. Thought we should mark the occasion with a little celebration!”

Immediately, Sherlock’s brow furrowed. “Six months since what?”

“Six months since our first date at Angelo’s! Remember, we went out on that case and you offered to take me to dinner and Angelo brought over that candle and that nice bottle of red – that was the first night you kissed me, Sherlock.” She turned to him after recounting what she had been counting as their first date and saw that Sherlock was as pale as a ghost. 

“Date? Like a romantic date?”

Now she was getting nervous. Her hands fiddled with her apron and she couldn’t quite look him in the eye. “Of course. After that we started spending more time together - we’d have dinner at least twice a week…you started taking me out for lunches when I was at work. You’ve been sleeping over more often. We went to the movies! And that one time it wasn’t even for a case, it was just because I wanted to see a movie!” She chewed on her bottom lip as Sherlock continued to stare at her blankly. “I just figured….you were bad at saying how you felt. But after that phone call and how you said you meant it, I guess I just assumed…” She trailed off and turned away from him, not wanting him to see her face crumble in embarrassment.

She expected to hear the front door open and close, leaving her to her embarrassment in peace, but much to her surprise, she heard him moving closer. “Sherlock, don’t. Don’t patronize me right now.”

She stiffened when she felt his hands on her shoulders and fought the urge to shrug him off. “I didn’t think….I didn’t think you still wanted me in that way, Molly. I thought we were just friends. I took whatever you gave because it was the only way of having you still in my life. I didn’t realize…you still want me?”

“You berk. Of course I still want you. You’re…you. You’re the most wonderful man I’ve ever known,” she whispered. “And I’ve already told you I love you.”

She felt him place a gentle kiss on top of her head and she giggled slightly, leaning back against him. “I didn’t think…I didn’t dare hope that it was still true.”

“Why didn’t you just ask me? What did you think was happening for this past six months?”

“I didn’t want to bring up bad memories. I didn’t…want to push my luck. I thought that this was how you treated your friends and that I was lucky enough that you still wanted me around. I didn’t dream that…what you felt might…might be the same as how I feel about you.”

At his stilted confession, she turned around and looked up at him. His expression was open and vulnerable and she suddenly felt honored that she was able to see Sherlock Holmes with his shields down – that she’d always been allowed to see this side of him. “I love you, Sherlock. Always have…probably always will.” She grinned up at him and he couldn’t help but mirror her expression. “Do you love me?”

He gulped and then nodded. “Yes,” he responded quietly. She rose up on tip toes to bestow a gentle kiss upon his lips at the sweet confession. 

“Well good then. Can we go enjoy our six month anniversary dinner now?” 

Sherlock chuckled and nodded, taking her hand as she led him to the table. 

Halfway through their meal, Sherlock paused and looked at Molly thoughtfully. “We haven’t shared many kisses in these past six months. How did you think we were dating when there were so few kisses? And no sex?”

Molly nearly choked on her lasagna, but managed to get it down after a few careful bites. “I just figured you weren’t used to all that stuff. Thought we were taking it slowly. I was following your lead.”

Sherlock’s expression suddenly became wicked and Molly felt a flush that was completely unrelated to the wine that she’d been drinking. “Oh Molly. We have six months to make up for. Now that I know we’re dating, our relationship will be progressing at a much faster pace.”


End file.
